Akshita Wason is a scientist with a PhD in biochemistry, studying protein engineering, and on the side, she paints. Bringing together her work that focuses on the interaction between humans and nature is her solo show, Under a White Cloud.
Presented by Gallery Sree Arts, and curated by Jitendra Padam Jain, Wason’s work is an attempt to highlight present-day environmental realities and evoke emotion through the pigments. “My work comes from a private space where I take a step back and observe life, space and reality. I borrow a lot of elements like hills and trees from nature. Being a scientist by training, I follow a very systematic method and yet my work ends up being an abstract. So, my work is all about abstract form conveying concepts of time, space and reality,” says Wason.
Born in Delhi and based in Auckland, New Zealand, Wason started dabbling in art during early 2017, at the age of 29, saying, “I use to live near the beach and take long walks when nature became a huge part of my life. And that’s how I started painting.”
Over the years she experimented with numerous materials, including canvas. However, she found that she always gravitated towards ink and paper. “Paper has an inherent absorbency and porosity which gives it a unique character. The resistance and acceptance to pigments provide the much-needed vibrancy of the end-result,” says Wason, who refuses to call her artistic side a hobby, as she believes it is something that’s really personal to her, something substantial. As she notes, “I think I’m sort of juggling between two personalities at a time.”
Science and art, for her, share certain commonalities, as she notes, “They seem different and perhaps the end result is different too but the process is quite similar. For example, observation, exploration and expression form a consistent base in both the fields. So, having borrowed the learning from science my process is quite extensive.”
Coming from a science field while being an artist at heart, Wason looks at the issue of climate change from two different perspectives. “As a scientist, we know that some of the advances in technology can be used to mitigate the climate change, however, it cannot be reversed. On the other side, the reality changes because as you interact with people, you understand that you need to work on what you have. So, through art, what one can achieve is start a conversation to make people realise that we need to do something about it”, says Wason.
Till: January 7, 11:00am to 7:00pm
At: Alliance Française De Delhi, Lodhi Estate.